A Fistful of Datas (episode) | Memory Alpha | Fandom powered by Wikia A Fistful of Datas (episode) 42,141pages on 133rd of 176 produced in TNG → 133rd of 176 released in TNG → 241st of 729 released in all → 46271.5 ( 2369 ) After a computer malfunction, Worf , his son Alexander Rozhenko, and Counselor Deanna Troi are trapped in an Old West holodeck program wherein the interactive characters physically resemble and have the same enhanced abilities as Data. Contents Edit " Captain 's Log , Stardate 46271.5. The Enterprise has entered orbit of Deinonychus VII but our scheduled rendezvous with the supply ship Biko has been delayed for another 48 hours.

In the meantime, many members of the crew are taking advantage of the delay to pursue their own projects, myself included." Jean-Luc Picard continues his Mozart recording In his quarters, Captain Picard is trying to record a piece by Mozart with the Ressikan flute , but he is interrupted by Lieutenant Commanders Data and La Forge . They ask for permission to experiment with creating an interface between Data's positronic brain and the ship's computers, so he can act as an emergency backup system in case of ship-wide failure. Picard enthusiastically grants them permission and goes back to the recording when they leave, but is interrupted again by Doctor Beverly Crusher . She wants him to perform in her next play, " Something for Breakfast "; when he protests about his lack of free time and acting skill, Beverly explains she only wants to cast him in the minor role of the Butler , and assures him he can do it, reminding him of the rehearsal time as she exits. Picard again resumes the recording, but is almost immediately interrupted for a third time by Worf , who presents a proposed schedule for security drills.

When Picard suggests the drills should wait for the new personnel soon to come aboard from Starbase 118 , Worf suggests he make maintenance checks on the forward phaser array instead, but the Captain tells him to enjoy himself during this free time. Worf, slightly baffled, thanks him and leaves Picard to resume his recording. In Worf's quarters, his son, Alexander is lying on the floor while he plays with his computer. He jumps up when he hears his father entering the room and he asks what the Captain said; Worf lets himself fall into a chair and after a short silence reluctantly admits that he has been relieved from his duties for the duration of the delay. When Alexander asks him if this means that he can go with him, Worf told him he could. Alexander cheerfully announces, "Saddle up, father!", and places a Stetson hat onto Worf's head. There seems to be no way to escape his son's idea of recreation. Act One Edit Deadwood, South Dakota Worf and Alexander are in the Deadwood holodeck program , looking down at the town of Deadwood.

This program is situated on 19th century Earth in an era known as the " Ancient West ." They are dressed up like law enforcement officers, Worf portraying the sheriff —and Alexander his deputy . While Worf and Alexander are walking through the main street, Geordi La Forge and Data are in engineering , preparing for their experiment. After Geordi connects an optic cable on the opened right side of Data's head to access Data's auxiliary input, he admits that he still is not used to seeing Data like this, with parts of his head opened and showing his circuitry. After Geordi completes the connection, Data establishes the link-up with the Enterprise computer and they start their experiment. Worf and Alexander, walking down the main street, are greeted by a lady of the night who whistles at them. When Alexander tells him that Lieutenant Barclay helped him write the program, Worf notes to himself that he will have to have a talk with Barclay later. Their conversation is interrupted by a gunshot and both run towards the source of the sound. In the saloon Eli Hollander is shooting at his wanted poster ; he is angry with the man who drew his picture, since he feels that the artist didn't draw him ugly enough.

His Mexican partner is laughing out loud, amused by Eli's reaction. After they empty their whiskey glasses they watch as Worf and Alexander enter the saloon. Sheriff Worf and Deputy Alexander enter the saloon Alexander explains to Worf that Eli Hollander is the bad guy, the meanest and toughest gunslinger in the west, and Worf's job is to apprehend him if he can. Worf adjusts his gun-belt and walks over to Eli's table, looks shortly at Eli's partner and tells Eli he is under arrest. As Eli stands up from his chair he is hit by Worf, before he can say anything, and hits the floor. Alexander freezes the holodeck program and tells his father that this is too easy – it needs to be harder to beat the bad guys, otherwise the program would not be any fun to play. Alexander orders the holodeck computer to change the difficulty level to level four and resets the program to where he and his father entered the saloon. Durango saves As they enter the saloon again the piano player stops and other customers get out of the way; they do not want to be hit if shooting starts. Worf walks up to Eli Hollander and tells him he is under arrest.

Eli, with his hand on his gun, tells Worf that that's not a good idea, then walks up to the bar and pours himself a whiskey. He challenges Worf, and even insults him by telling him he looks likes an armadillo. One of Eli's accomplices takes a chair with the intent to hit Worf in the back; he is warned by Alexander, but too late. The chair hits Worf and breaks apart, and with a swift turn Worf hits the assailant, knocking him to the floor. When Eli's partner wants to attack Worf, Worf hits him and he and falls backwards on the table, crushing it before he hits the floor. Worf looks around for more and enthusiastically tells his son he is beginning to like this program, but Eli is pointing his gun at him and tells his men to saddle up and demands Worf's money and jewelry. Eli walks up to Worf and cocks his gun, but before he can do anything someone shoots off his hat. It is a stranger who just entered the saloon – Counselor Deanna Troi , who was asked by Alexander to participate because she loves western stories.

Act Two In Main Engineering, Data is still connected to the computer while Geordi La Forge is working at a console. Eli Hollander is in the sheriff's jail Eli Hollander is in the sheriff's jail playing cards and tells Worf and Alexander that he will not be in there for long. When his pa hears about this he will get him out. Alexander tells him that his pa is no match for Sheriff Worf but the stranger tells them otherwise. Worf asks Deanna Troi if she could be more supportive, at which she tells him to call her "Durango" – she was just passing through and thought she'd lend a hand when she saw them in trouble. With her feet on his desk she lights a cigarillo and tells Worf that she is not a deputy, when Worf suggested that she might help. When Worf asks her if she would consider becoming a temporary deputy, she tells him it would cost him five hundred dollars. Worf then turns to his son and tells him that they will need currency; Alexander tells him he will go to the bank to make a withdrawal and leaves the Sheriff's office.

Worf asks Troi how she knows so much about this period of Earth's history, and she tells him her father always read her stories about the ancient west. She always wanted to play the part of the mysterious stranger. Their conversation is interrupted by Annie Meyers , the owner of the Gold Strike Saloon. After she enters the sheriff's office, she affectionately kisses Sheriff Worf and tells him he was so brave when he faced that evil man Eli Hollander. She tells him she will make him a special dinner, complete with a candle setting of real beeswax. When Worf tells her he cannot attend her dinner because he has a prisoner, "Durango" tells him not to worry, she will keep an eye on the prisoner while they are dining. Worf rejects Durango's offer and gets slapped in the face by Annie, who suspects there is another woman, someone from Miss Langford's House of Pleasure, although he denies it. An angry Miss Annie leaves the sheriff's office, slamming the door. When Eli sarcastically remarks that Worf has a way with women, "Durango" can barely suppress a laugh by masking it as a cough.

Meanwhile, in the captain's quarters, Jean-Luc Picard is listening to the musical performance he recorded earlier. Suddenly the music changes, from his flute recording to a full orchestra playing Dvorak's Slavonic Dance, Opus 46, No. 8 , although the computer identifies the performance as his: Picard Mozart Trio Program One. At the same time, Beverly Crusher is rehearsing Something for Breakfast together with Will Riker and some other colleagues. She finds that her play is missing when Riker recites a poem, the one Data wrote in honor of his cat Spot entitled Ode to Spot , instead of the text of the play. After she checks the PADD, the script of the play is still gone. Crusher takes the PADD to main engineering where La Forge opens it up and checks its performance. He can find nothing wrong with it. It seems that when Crusher tried to retrieve her script the computer accessed Data's poem instead. Data suggests that their experiment could be the source of the problems and they decide to run a level two diagnostic on the computer while Data performs a self-diagnostic.

Frank Hollander appearing like Data In Deadwood, Deputy Alexander is walking on the boardwalk back from the Bank where he got the money to pay Durango. After a quick check on the contents of the money bag he is pulled from the street, gagged, and brought to a mine by one of Eli's accomplices. Here Alexander complains that he was not supposed to be kidnapped at this time, but when he orders the holodeck computer to freeze the program nothing happens; even after a second command the computer does not respond. When the Mexican asks Frank Hollander, Eli's father, if he wants the deputy dead, Frank answers that he is more valuable alive. When Frank Hollander steps out of the dark back-end of the mine, Alexander notices that Frank Hollander looks exactly like Data, but does not behave like Data at all. Act Three Edit On the Enterprise Data is in his quarters. He orders his cat's food but the cat, Spot, refuses to eat it. He tells her perhaps hunger will convince her to try it later, then tries to do some work but Spot keeps on interrupting him by jumping onto his desk and walking over his computer console, and Data is forced to pick her up and move her back to the floor.

The first time he does this, he speaks normally; the second time, however, he says in a Texas accent, "Vamoose, you little varmint." Data does not notice his accent and continues working. The interface experiment seems to be influencing Data also in addition to the other computer malfunctions. Sheriff Worf enters the Gold Strike Saloon and looks around for his deputy. When he does not see him he asks Miss Annie, who is behind the bar and trying to ignore him, still angry about his dinner rejection. After telling him that she has not seen his deputy she asks him what he likes to drink. Annie laughs when Worf asks for Klingon firewine and she tells him they don't serve European drinks , like they do in Kansas City . Annie tells him she could serve him a sherry like they do at Miss Langford's. Frank Hollander and his accomplices return fire While Miss Annie gets him a drink, Sheriff Worf hears footsteps on the boardwalk outside the saloon, and as he looks at the entrance, the saloon doors squeak and he watches a stranger walk in with two accomplices.

The stranger looks exactly like Lieutenant Commander Data, however Worf simply assumes that either Alexander or Troi had invited him to participate in the program. This new character tells Worf that his name is Frank Hollander. As Worf checks him out, Frank Hollander asks him what he is looking at and Worf tells him he is not looking at him. When Worf asks him what he wants, Frank tells him he wants his son back. After sipping his drink, Worf turns to Frank Hollander and tells him that his son will have to stand trial for murder. Frank Hollander tells him that they have to work something out, when Worf refuses, he asks him if he has seen his deputy. When Worf asks him where his deputy is, Frank Hollander does not answer and Worf tells him he does not negotiate with criminals and that his son will stand trial. After emptying his glass, Sheriff Worf walks past Frank Hollander to leave the saloon but Frank grabs him by the shoulder, hard enough to be quite painful for Worf.

Worf, in the belief that Frank Hollander is Data, asks him what he is doing and realizes that this is not Data at all and tries to freeze the holodeck program, but to no avail. As Worf backs out of the saloon, Frank Hollander tells him not to leave and his accomplices stand ready to draw their weapons. After a short silence, Worf turns and dives through the saloon doors while bullets from Frank's accomplices follow him on his way out. When Worf enters the sheriff's office, he bolts the door and Deanna Troi, who is practicing her fast draw, asks him what is wrong; he tells her that Alexander is missing and that the holodeck safeguards are not functioning. When Deanna notices that Worf has been shot in his arm, she tries to freeze the holodeck program; when this fails she tries to contact security and Captain Picard, but all attempts to contact someone outside the holodeck fail. Troi uses her bandana to tie a tourniquet on Worf's arm to stop the bleeding from his gunshot wound. Worf tells her that Eli's father looks just like Data but is in fact not the android and that he has kidnapped Alexander.

Eli Hollander sneers at the sheriff from his cell, that his father might has been too rough with him, and as they look at him, Worf and Deanna see that he also has the appearance of Data. Troi wonders why the computer creates characters that look like Data and stops Worf when he tries to force Eli to tell him were Alexander is. When Worf walks back from the cell, she tells him that when they finish the story, the program will automatically terminate like it is designed to, despite the non-functioning safeguards. Worf agrees with her and decides to talk to the people of Deadwood and see if someone might have seen Alexander's abduction. Act Four Edit " Captain's Log , supplemental. Commander La Forge and Mister Data believe they have found the cause of the mysterious malfunctions which have been plaguing the ship." In the Enterprise observation lounge , Captain Picard, First Officer William Riker, Geordi La Forge and Data are deliberating on how to solve the computer problems their interface experiment has created.

Computer core-subroutine C 47 seems to have been replaced by parts of Data's own programming and because C47 controls library computer access, replicators and the recreational programs, among other things, this is the reason that Picard heard the wrong musical part and Doctor Crusher lost her script; in addition, six decks' worth of food replicators are limited to producing cat food: the custom supplements Data had designed just for Spot. Data and Geordi are busy isolating the corrupted computer circuit pathways, but it will take several hours. During their conference they notice that Data used a contraction as well as the antiquated word "reckon", although Data himself does not remember using it; he even speaks with a Texan accent. Picard suggests to take Data to main engineering and try to examine Data's behavior; when they leave the observation lounge, Data walks with a cowboy swagger and mistakes the plant near the door for a cuspidor. Picard and Riker look at each other when they see his behavior, not knowing what to think. In the sheriff's office Troi watches how Eli shuffles his cards in exactly the same way Data does when he plays poker and with the same speed.

Her thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door – it is Sheriff Worf. He tells her that he has found witnesses who saw the abduction of Alexander and is told by Deanna about Eli's abilities and she tells him his father, Frank Hollander, would also possess Data's abilities. Their conversation is interrupted by someone knocking on the door; it is Frank Hollander, who wants to see his son. Sheriff Worf demands his gun, whereupon Frank sneers to take a good look at his gun, he would see it again real soon. When Frank asks Eli how they were treating him, he complains that he has not eaten since he was imprisoned. Frank tells him that the sheriff will pay for this and asks him who the stranger is. Eli does not know, but tells his father she is mighty good with a Winchester . Frank walks up to the sheriff and tells him he will give him one more chance to release his son. After a short silence Worf tells him he agrees. He will release Eli in exchange for his deputy. Frank Hollander tells him to meet him in two hours in front of the livery stables and he does not want to see the stranger there and asks for his gun back.

After a last look at his son he leaves the sheriff's office. Troi tells Worf that in every story she has read about the ancient west, the bad guys always broke their word, and explains to him that bad guys are not concerned about honor when Worf tells her they have made an honorable agreement. This bad guy has the speed and accuracy of an android and will try to kill him. Act Five Edit When Riker visits La Forge and Data in main engineering they have discovered that part of Data's memory structure has been replaced by the computer recreational database. More specifically, parts of the 19th century American west. La Forge confirms that this is a result of their interface experiment and tells Commander Riker that a progressive memory purge to restore Data's programming is running and will take a couple of hours to finish. When Riker asks about the computer recreational database, La Forge tells him that a memory purge is also in progress and that it will take one to two hours to complete. As Riker leaves he is told by Data not to worry, they will fix the problem in time for supper.

In the sheriff's office, Worf and Troi are planning how they are going to deal with Frank Hollander when they are interrupted by several knocks on the door. It is Miss Annie, who brings Worf a toolbox with old man Newsome's telegraph machine. While Worf looks through the toolbox, Troi nods to Miss Annie, hinting Worf to thank her so she will leave the office. At 5:14 pm Worf finishes making a simple force field generator with some telegraph parts and his combadge functioning as a power source. When Troi asks how long the field will last he tells her not more than fifteen seconds because the field is very unstable. A few moments later Sheriff Worf and Eli Hollander walk out of the sheriff's office towards the front of the saloon. When they arrive Eli is stopped by Worf and they watch as Frank Hollander and Deputy Alexander walk into the middle of the street and stop in front of the livery stable. After lighting his cigar, Frank Hollander pushes Alexander forward, and he starts walking towards his father, Sheriff Worf, who nods Eli to start walking.

Unknown to Worf, Frank's accomplices are hiding beside the street, ready to use their weapons if necessary; by now they all look like Data. Worf and Frank Hollander before the showdown As Eli passes Alexander, he looks at him disdainfully, and just before he reaches his father Frank, he yells at him to get down and draws his gun. Worf warns Alexander and while he runs to the saloon, Worf turns on his makeshift force field, just in time. Frank empties his gun but the bullets are stopped by the force field. When it stops working, one of Frank's accomplices draws his weapon and tries to shoot Worf but he is stopped by Troi, who was hiding under a cover on a nearby wagon. At that time Frank's Mexican accomplice, who was hiding on a roof, throws a gun towards Frank Hollander. As he catches it, Worf draws his weapon and shoots the weapon right out of Frank Hollander's hand. Hollander knows he is beaten and challenges Worf to shoot him. Worf cocks his weapon and looks towards Alexander, who is lying under the saloon doors, watching everything.

After a short silence, Worf tells Frank Hollander never to show his face again in Deadwood. Frank calls his accomplices and walks out of the street while he throws a sharp look at Sheriff Worf. Deanna and Worf run into the saloon where Alexander embraces his father and tells him he is fine when Worf asks if he is alright. Worf orders the holodeck computer to end the program but nothing happens. Deanna does not understand – the story should have ended by now. Worf tells the computer again to end the program. Miss Annie, who now also looks like Data, walks down the stairs and tells Worf he is as handy with a gun as with a woman's heart. An agitated Worf rapidly repeats his command to shut down the program while Miss Annie walks towards him. The computer shuts down the program just as Annie Meyers places her head on Worf's shoulder, and Worf sighs with relief as he sees the holodeck grid appearing. " Captain's Log , Stardate 46278.3. Both Commander Data and the ship's computer have been restored to normal operation.

Our rendezvous with the supply ship Biko has proceeded as planned." The Enterprise-D rides off into the sunset Back in Worf's quarters, Worf looks to his son who is almost asleep. When Alexander asks his father if he would go back to the ancient west despite what has happened, Worf tells him if the town of Deadwood would face danger again they would need a sheriff and a deputy. As Worf walks back to the living quarters he notices the Stetson lying on a chair and he cannot resist putting it on his head and trying out his fast draw in the mirror using his fingers as a pretend revolver and grinning widely as the Enterprise breaks orbit and rides off into the sunset. Memorable quotes "I'm not much of an actor." - Picard, to Beverly Crusher "You're not just another electronic system." "Thank you, Geordi. Nor are you just another biological organism." - Geordi and Data "You wrote this holodeck program yourself..." "Well, Mr. Barclay helped a little." "I must have a little talk with Mr.

Barclay." - Worf and Alexander, after seeing a prostitute in his son's holoprogram "If ever I find the varmint that drew this, he'll be sorry ever put pen to paper! I'm ten times uglier than that, ain't I?" (laughs very loudly) "Shut up! You laugh so much, it's a wonder you ain't got flies in your mouth." (laughs even louder) "You're very funny man, señor Eli." - Eli Hollander and the Bandit, while Hollander shoots at a wanted poster of himself with a somewhat inaccurate picture "No, no, no! Computer, freeze program." "What is wrong?" "That was too easy.

It has to be harder to beat the bad guys!" - Alexander, to Worf after he abruptly knocks out Eli Hollander and begins to take him away "Where are they going?" "They don't want to get hit by the bullets." - Worf and Alexander when saloon customers promptly leave when Worf arrives to arrest Eli Hollander "I'm beginning to see the appeal of this program!" - Worf to Alexander, after violently knocking down two villains in the saloon on the holodeck, obviously enjoying the fight "You are a murderer and a thief." "A man's gotta make a livin'." - Worf and Eli Hollander "What are his rights in this century? Is there a trial... or shall I execute him?" - Worf, to Alexander asking what he is supposed to do with Eli Hollander now that he has been arrested "Counselor, I would appreciate some support in this matter!" "Durango!

I'm called Durango!" - Worf and Deanna Troi, playing the Mysterious Stranger on the holodeck "You sure got a way with women, sheriff." - Eli Hollander, to Sheriff Worf, after Worf got slapped by Annie (Spot meows and jumps onto Data's console.) "Spot, you are disrupting my ability to work." (After Data moves her to the floor, Spot meows and jumps back up.) "Vamoose, you little varmint!" (in Texan accent) - Data, to Spot, who is disrupting Data's ability to work "Aw! Now isn't that a shame? Poor sheriff's been injured. What's the matter? Was ma pa' 'little too rough on ya?" (laughs very gleefully) - Eli Hollander, looking like Data about Worf's getting shot by one of Frank Hollander's men "Y'all must be mistaken." "Data, you did it again." "Did what?" - Data and Geordi about Data's Texas drawl "You sit tight, boy.

I'll have you home in time for supper." - Frank Hollander, with the appearance of Data to Eli Hollander, who also looks like Data, on the holodeck "Howdy, commander." - Data, in a Texan accent "You just sit tight. We'll have this all fixed up in time for supper." - Data, to Cmdr. Riker about the progress in fixing the problem with subroutine C 47 , in the real world "The town of Deadwood may face danger once again. If they do, they will need a sheriff... and a deputy." - Worf to Alexander after the program has ended Background information A scene cut for time included an homage to The Ransom of Red Chief with Alexander as the testy captive. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion ) There is an interview with Patrick Stewart about the making of this episode in the "Bold New Directions Year Six" special feature located on the TNG Season 6 DVD . In the interview Stewart mentions that for this episode he watched the movie Shane for inspiration regarding westerns. Indeed, a scene from Shane was taken by Patrick Stewart and copied as the one where Alexander looks out of the bottom of the saloon doors.

The production staff had very little time to create this episode, and Patrick Stewart actually asked that all the sets be set up at night, so they could catch every portion of daylight for shooting. ("Bold New Directions Year Six", TNG Season 6 DVD special feature) First UK airdate: 30 August 1995 Cast Edit Stewart directs from a crane When she performed as Durango aka the Mysterious Stranger, Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) initially tried to blow rings of smoke, but Michael Dorn (Worf) cut her off and said: "Stop it! Don't be funnier than me, this is my show." ("Bold New Directions Year Six", TNG Season 6 DVD special feature) Sirtis was originally written to play the dancing girl from the saloon, instead of the stranger. ( AOL chat , 1999 ) In the "Special Crew Profile: Lt. Cmdr. Data" on the same set of discs Brent Spiner mentions that, although he enjoyed playing all the villains in this episode, Data was "homely" as the female bartender he played.

Michael Dorn's stunt double Rusty McClennon is clearly visible during one of the early holodeck scenes, just before Worf is hit with a chair by one of Hollander's henchmen. The Red Dwarf reference guide "The A to Z of Red Dwarf" recounts an anecdote where Patrick Stewart caught the Red Dwarf episode Gunmen of the Apocalypse on TV, and, mistaking it for a dramatic series, found the plot so similar to Fistful that he briefly considered calling his lawyers. Only after watching the episode further he realized that the show was a comedy and started laughing. In this episode Data notices Geordi La Forge growing a beard, and the beard will appear fuller in the next episode, " The Quality of Life ". La Forge was once seen unshaven in the previous season . Sets and locations Edit Stewart with Guy Vardaman , doubling for Brent Spiner The Western sequences were filmed on one day on the backlot of Universal Studios in Los Angeles, better known as the " Western Town ".

( Star Trek Encyclopedia , "Bold New Directions Year Six", TNG Season 6 DVD special feature) The exact location is Six Points Texas , Backlot, Universal Studios – 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA. Props Vaka Rangi: “Aside from his face, he's ugly”: A Fistful of Datas “Aside from his face, he's ugly”: A Fistful of Datas OK, I like it. Yes, it is very silly. It amounts to little more than an acritical genre romp done of the most obvious and easy genre the show could have possibly done (and one that happens to be deeply historically problematic to boot), and it's even *literally* shot on a Hollywood backlot. It's also transparently an actor showcase episode, the plot serving as little more than an excuse to get Brent Spiner to do every Spaghetti Western cliche in existence. But the thing is, this is exactly the kind of story the holodeck exists to do, and I'm *way* more OK with this sort of thing here than I am in something like “Qpid”.

For one thing, it doesn't have Q in it and isn't aiming to do anything more serious than “Western movie riff where Worf plays the sheriff everything is Data because of some reasons”. And I can respect that. Of course, “A Fistful of Datas” isn't just a genre romp. It's also an actor showcase, and one of the best in the series. It's obviously one for Brent Spiner, so obviously in fact it's not worth commenting on except, perhaps to say that his take on Annie would probably not play as well today as it did in 1992. Although to the episode's credit, I got more of a Monty Python vibe from it where the point of the scene is a drag quotation of stereotypical feminine tropes and signifiers. Data is essentially a recursive performer, after all: He's Brent Spiner doing an impersonation of an android doing an impersonation of what he thinks humanoids are like. So I think you could actually redeem that scene rather strongly by writing it back into the pre-existing notions of performance and artifice that are part of Data's character, the holodeck's relationship to narrative and Star Trek: The Next Generation on the whole.

But as predictably outstanding as Brent Spiner is, this is an equally good outing for Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis, and that's easy to overlook. (And not to be outdone, Brian Bonsall is really pretty excellent too with the material he has, and he's just about everything the child actors in “Rascals” weren't. As frequently poorly handled as Alexander is, it's important to remember Bonsall is a good actor in his own right, so he deserves the same redemptive treatment we afforded Wil Wheaton.) But for me the stars of the show tonight are Dorn and Sirtis. Not only is this the best Worf/Alexander story on television to date, it's also the best Worf/Deanna Troi one because it plays so well to the actors' strengths. Dorn is visibly having a blast under Worf's awkward facade, and Sirtis finally gets to stretch her legs with Deanna Troi *as a character*. This is the first time we've gotten to see *Deanna* as mercurial and adaptable as *Marina* is, and she understandably knocks it out of the park.

To me this is best exemplified by Durango's accent, which isn't Marina Sirtis doing a fakey Western accent and persona (which she could have very easily done and would have been perfectly understandable), but Marina Sirtis doing Deanna Troi (with Deanna Troi's own inflections, mannerisms and distinctive accent) doing a fakey Western accent and persona, which is a damn laudable bit of acting if I've ever seen one. It turns out as well there's even more going on under the surface here than it might appear at first glance. “A Fistful of Datas” is essentially another day in the life episode, and although things go haywire because Star Trek: The Next Generation has to at least pay lip service to action sci-fi, this is manifestly not the point of the story. Primarily, this episode is actually about showing us what the crew do for fun when not out charting star clusters or fighting the Romulans, and it's a way better showcase of this than “Data's Day”.

What we see is pretty much what we might expect to see, though that's not a bad thing at all: Most obviously there's Worf, who doesn't actually *like* taking time off, if for no other reason than it means he has to spend time with Alexander. Beverly is off writing, directing and casting her own play (and I love how this leads to the in joke of Beverly trying to convince Captain Picard he's a skilled thespian!) and Geordi and Data are doing science experiments. As for the captain, he's trying to practice his flute technique, which is a sweet callback to “The Inner Light”, although I've liked it even more if he'd been playing the actual “Inner Light” theme instead of Mozart. (Captain Picard's awkwardness and annoyance in the opening scene, while funny, also sets in motion a story thread that will continue through the rest of the series. That is, that the Captain has trouble socializing with the crew.

I have mixed feelings about this-There are some cute things done with it, like the teaser here and perhaps things like dating Jae of all people in “Schisms”, but I personally usually prefer it when he's more comfortable around the rest of the crew. I like Captain Picard offbeat with some eccentricities, but not overly introverted or antisocial: I just don't seem him that way.) Plainly the holodeck stuff doesn't offer much in the way of transformative critique of the Western genre, which is a shame because it could, and it could very easily. This is no “Hire Us! Beautiful Bodyguards are a Better Deal”, and it's here that the Hollywood provincialism of Star Trek's creators starts to come into play a little: Everyone is just a *bit* too giddy about doing a Western film genre romp on the Warner Bros. backlot and nobody really manages to sober up enough to to dig a whole lot deeper. There's some fun mild genre savvy moments where Deanna correctly predicts the Bad Guy's sudden and inevitable betrayal and points out how in order to bring the story to a satisfying close, they're going to have to play it to the beat, oppressively stock and tropish structure and all.

If I wanted, I could twist this into a reflexive commentary on Star Trek: The Next Generation's past history of stock runarounds, the franchise's own pulp roots and the off-repeated (and inaccurate) claim that the Original Series was “A Wagon Train to the stars”, especially as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is in production and was being sold to certain specific audiences as “Fort Laramie in Space”. Quite frankly though, I don't think anyone involved was that self aware. What I *do* think is interesting from a metafictional standpoint is the idea that Data turns into a Spaghetti Western stereotype because he's accidentally downloaded historical records into his personality submatrix or whatever you call it. It's only mentioned in a throwaway line during the scene in the observation lounge, but they very specifically say it's historical records, *not* a library of holodeck stories, even if some of the ship's affected areas are the recreational ones. To me, that raises issues about the narrative-building involved in writing history that don't get talked about a lot. It's often said that history is written by the victors, and while terribly true, the equally true but often ignored half of that statement is that history is written.

I don't think that should be taken lightly at all: The very act of trying to record history necessitates reducing an infinite multiplicity of lived present experience to a story. A story by definition is already a performative artifice and thus a facsimile, and writing it down consigns it to the construct of past, effectively making it a dead and forgotten thing. History doesn't give us a full understanding of the past, only of a story someone told about it, because the past is meant to live on with us as an equal part of eternal time. Once we lose touch with that, we need stories of the past, and, in time, the story comes to take the place of the lived experience in memory because it's stood in for it for so long in the collective consciousness. So I really like how in this episode we get the sense the Enterprise is so far removed from the wild west that literally all they have for historical records of the period are horrible Spaghetti Western movies. It's very much akin to how we today frankly have no idea what life was like for humans in premodern, prehistoric times: There's the standard anthropological and historical narrative, but that's every bit a story as anything else.

This is a feature, not a bug, of the way Western modernity tries to keep track of its past, and the disturbing gaps in our knowledge are something that's always going to come with the territory. And yet stories are important. A really good story can give us a reasonable facsimile, while a bad one might be misleading and destructive. But both good and bad stories each reveal their own interpretive truths that were felt by the people who told them, and understanding that in and of itself gets us a a little bit closer to remembering the whole. Posted by "Data is essentially a recursive performer, after all: He's Brent Spiner doing an impersonation of an android doing an impersonation of what he thinks humanoids are like." Absolutely! Love Spiner for this and adore this episode too. Love what you say about history and stories be they good or bad, and how they are necessary. As well as telling us something about the people who were around when they were created, the stories also tell us a lot about the moment in time and culture they are being shared in, as well as informing us about the teller themselves, let alone the audience with how they respond.

I really like your description of story as a "performative artifice", and completely agree that only one sliver of one person's perspective is being represented, especially when looking at historically connected stories. This I feel is why it's important to be open to stories coming from many perspectives, especially the stories of hidden characters or disenfranchised groups or people. We need, and often I am interested in the tales of characters who all too quickly vanish, or are transparently absent from a narrative. Also of interest to me is the process of "re-storying", creating new and more authentic stories when we may have had the experience, either by family or society at large, of stories being impressed upon us or injected into us. This I feel is especially important when the stories being told do not represent us or actively hold us back. Great piece, thanks Josh. “Aside from his face, he's ugly”: A Fistful of Datas | Eruditorum Press “Aside from his face, he's ugly”: A Fistful of Datas “Aside from his face, he's ugly”: A Fistful of Datas Posted by: Josh Marsfelder 1 year, 3 months ago ( 1 comment ) OK, I like it.

Yes, it is very silly. It amounts to little more than an acritical genre romp done of the most obvious and easy genre the show could have possibly done (and one that happens to be deeply historically problematic to boot), and it's even *literally* shot on a Hollywood backlot. It's also transparently an actor showcase episode, the plot serving as little more than an excuse to get Brent Spiner to do every Spaghetti Western cliche in existence. But the thing is, this is exactly the kind of story the holodeck exists to do, and I'm *way* more OK with this sort of thing here than I am in something like “Qpid”. For one thing, it doesn't have Q in it and isn't aiming to do anything more serious than “Western movie riff where Worf plays the sheriff everything is Data because of some reasons”. And I can respect that. Of course, “A Fistful of Datas” isn't just a genre romp. It's also an actor showcase, and one of the best in the series.

It's obviously one for Brent Spiner, so obviously in fact it's not worth commenting on except, perhaps to say that his take on Annie would probably not play as well today as it did in 1992. Although to the episode's credit, I got more of a Monty Python vibe from it where the point of the scene is a drag quotation of stereotypical feminine tropes and signifiers. Data is essentially a recursive performer, after all: He's Brent Spiner doing an impersonation of an android doing an impersonation of what he thinks humanoids are like. So I think you could actually redeem that scene rather strongly by writing it back into the pre-existing notions of performance and artifice that are part of Data's character, the holodeck's relationship to narrative and Star Trek: The Next Generation on the whole. But as predictably outstanding as Brent Spiner is, this is an equally good outing for Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis, and that's easy to overlook. (And not to be outdone, Brian Bonsall is really pretty excellent too with the material he has, and he's just about everything the child actors in “Rascals” weren't.

As frequently poorly handled as Alexander is, it's important to remember Bonsall is a good actor in his own right, so he deserves the same redemptive treatment we afforded Wil Wheaton.) But for me the stars of the show tonight are Dorn and Sirtis. Not only is this the best Worf/Alexander story on television to date, it's also the best Worf/Deanna Troi one because it plays so well to the actors' strengths. Dorn is visibly having a blast under Worf's awkward facade, and Sirtis finally gets to stretch her legs with Deanna Troi *as a character*. This is the first time we've gotten to see *Deanna* as mercurial and adaptable as *Marina* is, and she understandably knocks it out of the park.

To me this is best exemplified by Durango's accent, which isn't Marina Sirtis doing a fakey Western accent and persona (which she could have very easily done and would have been perfectly understandable), but Marina Sirtis doing Deanna Troi (with Deanna Troi's own inflections, mannerisms and distinctive accent) doing a fakey Western accent and persona, which is a damn laudable bit of acting if I've ever seen one. It turns out as well there's even more going on under the surface here than it might appear at first glance. “A Fistful of Datas” is essentially another day in the life episode, and although things go haywire because Star Trek: The Next Generation has to at least pay lip service to action sci-fi, this is manifestly not the point of the story. Primarily, this episode is actually about showing us what the crew do for fun when not out charting star clusters or fighting the Romulans, and it's a way better showcase of this than “Data's Day”.

What we see is pretty much what we might expect to see, though that's not a bad thing at all: Most obviously there's Worf, who doesn't actually *like* taking time off, if for no other reason than it means he has to spend time with Alexander. Beverly is off writing, directing and casting her own play (and I love how this leads to the in joke of Beverly trying to convince Captain Picard he's a skilled thespian!) and Geordi and Data are doing science experiments. As for the captain, he's trying to practice his flute technique, which is a sweet callback to “The Inner Light”, although I've liked it even more if he'd been playing the actual “Inner Light” theme instead of Mozart. (Captain Picard's awkwardness and annoyance in the opening scene, while funny, also sets in motion a story thread that will continue through the rest of the series. That is, that the Captain has trouble socializing with the crew.

I have mixed feelings about this-There are some cute things done with it, like the teaser here and perhaps things like dating Jae of all people in “Schisms”, but I personally usually prefer it when he's more comfortable around the rest of the crew. I like Captain Picard offbeat with some eccentricities, but not overly introverted or antisocial: I just don't seem him that way.) Plainly the holodeck stuff doesn't offer much in the way of transformative critique of the Western genre, which is a shame because it could, and it could very easily. This is no “Hire Us! Beautiful Bodyguards are a Better Deal”, and it's here that the Hollywood provincialism of Star Trek's creators starts to come into play a little: Everyone is just a *bit* too giddy about doing a Western film genre romp on the Warner Bros. backlot and nobody really manages to sober up enough to to dig a whole lot deeper. There's some fun mild genre savvy moments where Deanna correctly predicts the Bad Guy's sudden and inevitable betrayal and points out how in order to bring the story to a satisfying close, they're going to have to play it to the beat, oppressively stock and tropish structure and all.

If I wanted, I could twist this into a reflexive commentary on Star Trek: The Next Generation's past history of stock runarounds, the franchise's own pulp roots and the off-repeated (and inaccurate) claim that the Original Series was “A Wagon Train to the stars”, especially as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is in production and was being sold to certain specific audiences as “Fort Laramie in Space”. Quite frankly though, I don't think anyone involved was that self aware. What I *do* think is interesting from a metafictional standpoint is the idea that Data turns into a Spaghetti Western stereotype because he's accidentally downloaded historical records into his personality submatrix or whatever you call it. It's only mentioned in a throwaway line during the scene in the observation lounge, but they very specifically say it's historical records, *not* a library of holodeck stories, even if some of the ship's affected areas are the recreational ones. To me, that raises issues about the narrative-building involved in writing history that don't get talked about a lot. It's often said that history is written by the victors, and while terribly true, the equally true but often ignored half of that statement is that history is written.

I don't think that should be taken lightly at all: The very act of trying to record history necessitates reducing an infinite multiplicity of lived present experience to a story. A story by definition is already a performative artifice and thus a facsimile, and writing it down consigns it to the construct of past, effectively making it a dead and forgotten thing. History doesn't give us a full understanding of the past, only of a story someone told about it, because the past is meant to live on with us as an equal part of eternal time. Once we lose touch with that, we need stories of the past, and, in time, the story comes to take the place of the lived experience in memory because it's stood in for it for so long in the collective consciousness. So I really like how in this episode we get the sense the Enterprise is so far removed from the wild west that literally all they have for historical records of the period are horrible Spaghetti Western movies. It's very much akin to how we today frankly have no idea what life was like for humans in premodern, prehistoric times: There's the standard anthropological and historical narrative, but that's every bit a story as anything else.

This is a feature, not a bug, of the way Western modernity tries to keep track of its past, and the disturbing gaps in our knowledge are something that's always going to come with the territory. And yet stories are important. A really good story can give us a reasonable facsimile, while a bad one might be misleading and destructive. But both good and bad stories each reveal their own interpretive truths that were felt by the people who told them, and understanding that in and of itself gets us a a little bit closer to remembering the whole. Tags:

Question: In which specific TV series is there an Episode entitled "A Fistful of Data's"?
Answer: Star Trek. The Next Generation